Acupuncture is one or of the oldest methods of treating disease having been used by the Chinese for over 4000 years. Without going into the philosophy behind it, the traditional Chinese method (TCM) is based on stimulating specific points on the body known as acupuncture points by penetrating the skin with thin sharp needles and manipulating the needles. The acupuncture points are located on paths called meridians through which energy flows throughout the body. Also a long standing aspect of TCM is a therapy called moxibustion, which involves burning a herb either directly on the patient's skin at an acupuncture point or in association with a needle.
Over the millennia that have passed since the origins of the practice of acupuncture new systems have evolved that use acupuncture points and meridians not recognized in the traditional Chinese method (TCM). Additionally new methods of applying the therapy that are non-invasive and do not require the use of needles have been devised. These methods include, for example, electric acupuncture, acupressure, and laser acupuncture.
Soft Lasers—low-intensity non-thermal laser irradiation treatments are used to stimulate traditional acupuncture points instead of needles; in other cases they are used to stimulate the traditional acupuncture points by applying the technique of moxibustion. Many different apparatuses have been described in the patent and non-patent literature for use in laser acupuncture. Some examples are:
U.S. Pat. No. 6,306,160 describes a hand held device that comprises an electrode used to locate acupuncture points by measuring skin resistance and a 3 mw diode laser that emits light with a wavelength of 635-670 nm.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,179,278 describes an apparatus in which one or more remote laser sources that emit light at 350-980 nm are optically linked by fiber optics to a handpiece that is in contact with the skin of the patient. The handpiece comprises two electrodes to measure skin resistance. The penetration depth is adjusted by changing the wavelength and also by reducing the diameter of the optical fiber as it approaches the tip of the handpiece.
US 2007/0129713 describes a laser needle for performing combined laser therapy and electric therapy. The output beam from a remote diode laser is conducted to the patient by an optical fiber. At its distal end the optical fiber is surrounded by a metal jacket having a disk attached to its lower end. The disk serves to distribute the electric current of the electric acupuncture over a larger area and also to aid in attaching the laser needle to the body of the patient.
CN102716553 is an example of a publication that describes an apparatus comprising two lasers that provides the combined effects of needle and moxibustion. The first laser is a red laser (635 nm) to simulate the effect of the needles and the second laser produces an output in the range of 1250-10000 nm to simulate the effect of thermal moxibustion.
Acupuncture treatments are generally carried out by highly trained and experienced practitioners; however, guides for helping non-experienced persons to administer acupuncture treatments have been suggested. Examples of these guides are CN101982161A, which describes shirts on the outer surface of which have been marked acupuncture channels and points. CN202526546U describes articles of clothing adapted for acupuncture or moxibustion therapy by providing holes through the material at the location of acupoints. CN2254347Y describes acupuncture massage clothes that respectively have plastic needles on the inside of the clothing located at acupoints.
Although there are innumerable reports of successful treatment of essentially every known condition relating to the physical and mental health of humans and animals, a considerable amount of controversy surrounding the efficacy of the method exists. This is in a large part due to the difficulty of devising and carrying out controlled clinical studies.
In an effort to make some order out of the conflicting reports, the World Health Organization published in 2004 a report entitled “Acupuncture: Review and Analysis of Reports on Controlled Clinical Trials” (http://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/en/d/Js4926e/5.html). This report is somewhat outdated since it only includes the results of controlled clinical trials that were formally published through the year 1998; nonetheless the report contains a comprehensive list of diseases and disorders that can be treated with acupuncture. The diseases or disorders for which acupuncture therapy has been tested in controlled clinical trials reported in the recent literature are classified into the following four categories:
1. Twenty-three diseases, symptoms or conditions for which acupuncture has been proved—through controlled trials—to be an effective treatment. The only item in the list that is related to treatment of cancer is adverse reactions to radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy.2. Sixty-three diseases, symptoms or conditions for which the therapeutic effect of acupuncture has been shown but for which further proof is needed. The only item in the list that is related to treatment of cancer is cancer pain.3. Eight diseases, symptoms or conditions for which there are only individual controlled trials reporting some therapeutic effects, but for which acupuncture is worth trying because treatment by conventional and other therapies is difficult. This list contains no items related to treatment of cancer.4. Six diseases, symptoms or conditions for which acupuncture may be tried provided the practitioner has special modern medical knowledge and adequate monitoring equipment. This list contains no items related to treatment of cancer.
The American National Cancer Institute associated with the National Institutes of Health has issued a report on the recognized use of acupuncture in treatment of cancer. The study appears in a short version intended for patients                (http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/cam/acupuncture/patient/)and a much more detailed version intended for health care professionals (National Cancer Institute: PDQ® Acupuncture. Bethesda, Md.: National Cancer Institute. Date last modified <April/16/2013>. Available at: http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/cam/acupuncture/healthprofessional. Accessed <May/10/2013>). The later document contains a comprehensive report of laboratory/animal preclinical and human clinical studies of cancer related symptoms and is regularly updated. The summary from NCI's PDQ cancer information summary states the following:        “It is noteworthy that almost all reported clinical studies on the effects of acupuncture on cancer or cancer therapy-related symptoms focus on symptom management rather than the disease itself. Investigations into the effects of acupuncture on chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting; many of which were randomized and well-controlled produced the most convincing findings. Although a considerable number of favorable clinical acupuncture studies have been reported, most were case studies, clinical observations, or nonrandomized and poorly controlled clinical trials. In many studies, methodologic flaws in clinical study design hampered rigorous scientific efforts to evaluate the effects o/acupuncture. Although pain relief is the most clinically common use of acupuncture, only a few studies on cancer pain are well-controlled or have sample sizes large enough to support their findings.”        
This summary agrees with the earlier WHO study and shows that at this moment in time the view of the conventional medical establishment including the regulating authorities in most countries is that the place of acupuncture in cancer therapy is to alleviate pain and anxiety, which are often the side-effects of the surgery and chemo and radiation therapies that conventional cancer treatment employs.
Despite the lack of official recognition of the effectiveness of acupuncture in treating cancerous growths many practitioners have been and are actively engaged in developing acupuncture methodologies for treating cancer. These practitioners believe that if their methods are employed to correct the root cause of the disease, then there will be no need to deal with the symptoms described above. The assistance of these practitioners is often actively sought out by cancer patients and not infrequently physicians recommend acupuncture, in their view as a last resort, to patients that cannot be helped by conventional methods.
Are Thoresen, one of the inventors (henceforth “the first inventor”) of the present invention, has been actively practicing acupuncture therapy since 1977. He has treated more than 600 patients—animals and humans—with various kinds of cancer, applying different methods. Some of the experience that he has accumulated over the years is summarized in a book that he has written in his native Norwegian. A 2nd English edition has been published (Are Simeon Thoresen DVM, “Holistic Veterinary Medicine”, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, North Charleston, S.C., USA).
It is a purpose of the present invention to build on the first inventor's experience and his previous success by providing a system and method that is based upon the use of acupuncture points that have not previously been reported for prevention, detection, and treatment of cancer.
Further purposes and advantages of this invention will appear as the description proceeds.